This was something of a slow week for me. Not many books and only a couple I was really impressed with. While I was reading my comics I was pretty sure my pick would have been Punisher #11 but in the end it was edged out by this book because it’s just classic.

Zack Whedon, one of the masterminds behind Dr. Horrible Sing-Along Blog brings us the origins of the ma who would eventually take itunes by storm. We begin the issue with a young Dr. Horrible playing with action figures on the playground at school and gets beat up by a bully. After school the would-be Horrible sees a hero, Justice Joe trounce the evil scientist Dr. Maniacal. It sets up the very conceit of the Dr. Horrible universe; that being that heroes are the bullies and the evil scientists are the outcasts.

This comic is good because it’s funny, it plays off of hero conventions without feeling stale and it tells a tight, concise story. In short, the Dr. Horrible origin takes from the Stan Lee school in all the best ways. It also sets up everything that happens in the Dr. Horrible videos without being to obvious about it. We meet Captain Hammer, the girl in the laundromat.

But I really have to give it up for the art in this comic. Joelle Jones delivers a very clean, cartoonish look to the Horribleverse. One of the problems I have with adaptation comics is the pressure of an artist to do faithful renderings of actors often makes the art suffer. Jones gets around this by making the characters less realistic and more iconic. Which actually makes the characters more recognizable. I think its something that the Buffy comic could learn from.

As a reviewer I don’t want to tell you what you should do. But if your a fan of good comic books you should run out and pick up this comic right now. Or rather wait until your comic shop is open then go buy it.